a taste of liberation bread

Probably my most favorite poem of all time, "Oda al pan" by Chile's beloved Don Pablo Neruda, ends with this line:

No tiene alas
la victoria terrestre:
tiene pan en sus hombros,
y vuela valerosa
liberando la tierra
como una panadera
conducida en el viento.

Earthly Victory
does not have wings:
she wears bread on her shoulders instead.
Courageously she soars,
setting the world free,
like a baker
born aloft on the wind.


I've come to love this line more and more as I move through life. And the other day, I got to experience a taste of it!

While at the church on Monday afternoon, I went next door to our neighbor church to visit the FriendsLife crew volunteering with Mobile Loaves & Fishes. They had gotten a too-large donation of whole grain bread from Second Harvest for the number of sandwiches they needed to make, so they were trying to find good homes for all of the extra bread. So, I said I'd take a box of 8 loaves over to Calvary and see who might want them. I literally walked through the church, offering free loaves of bread to whoever was around the church - the office administrator, the pastor, childcare workers. I thought for a second about placing a loaf on each shoulder, thinking I might just take flight. But I refrained, and carried one in each hand instead as I walked down the hall.

How often do you get the chance to hand out free loaves of bread?! It was a bit of a rush. I'd take part in that kind of Earthly Victory every day if I had the chance. I guess we all do have the chance every day to take part in it in some way - oh, now there's a doozy.